Beware! New, 'branded' Nigerian scamsters may soon come calling
Imagine Finnish mobile handset giant Nokia paying you millions for being a loyal customer, or Korean consumer electronics giant LG offering you truckloads of cash with an LCD television. You may also be pleasantly surprised when Orange, the international mobile phone services provider, decides to reward you Rs 22.5 crore on ‘their’ anniversary. This is no Diwali largesse, but a toll-free entry point to the new, improved Nigerian scam.
Earlier, the chicanery was by a `generous foreigner’ who left behind a fortune from his will in your unsuspecting name. Today, scamsters are masquerading as the brand you trust. If it’s not cellphone makers or service providers, then it’s from banks such as Oceanic Bank International (that’s a real Nigerian bank), claiming that you have won a fully-loaded debit card.
Even as the police are on their toes, and the occasional arrests are being made, what is alarming is the increasing number of people falling prey to such frauds.There are a lot more cases coming to light, especially in cities like Mumbai and its suburbs, say e-security experts.
In one instance, a bank manager who wishes to remain unidentified says he warned a customer against depositing Rs 15 lakh in an overseas account as “transaction fees” to claim his “reward”. But the customer’s reaction stumped him. “You are jealous of me,” the customer shot back.
Recently, the Oshiwara police in Mumbai swooped down on a scamster as he came to collect the “fees” to complete formalities from a woman residing in a posh Mumbai suburb.
Part of the reason why the number of victims falling for these tricks is increasing is the polished way in which they are being executed. Take the case of the Orange “celebration”, where the service provider is sharing its joy with Indian subscribers despite having no presence in the country since 2005. The messages that enter your mobile phone actually have a customised SMS name,
TM-OTDCUK, that is obtained after paying a fee to the telecom authorities. This customised SMS name can be obtained for as little as Rs 2,000, says an executive heading a digital marketing firm. After obtaining an SMS identity, the scamster can use mobile gateways to spam mass messages where the cost of an SMS is as little as 1 paise to 20 paise per message.
Cos not unduly worried
Perpetrators are increasingly using innovative ways to cheat people. They are using different means like mobile SMS and email to attract their targets. In most of the cases, they do thorough research on the people they intend to defraud ,” says Daniel R Pranjal , chief strategist, Strategy India, a consulting company that deals in this space.
Companies whose names are being currently used as baits in these scams aren’t unduly worried at this point of time. “Consumers are quick to figure out the genuine from the fake,” D Shivakumar, managing director of Nokia India , told ET.
He added that many customers approach the company when they get these mails or messages to find out if there is any truth in the treasure coming their way. LG told this newspaper’s correspondent to forward the mail that had come allegedly on its behalf promising a bag of goodies.
Source: The Economic Times
Earlier, the chicanery was by a `generous foreigner’ who left behind a fortune from his will in your unsuspecting name. Today, scamsters are masquerading as the brand you trust. If it’s not cellphone makers or service providers, then it’s from banks such as Oceanic Bank International (that’s a real Nigerian bank), claiming that you have won a fully-loaded debit card.
Even as the police are on their toes, and the occasional arrests are being made, what is alarming is the increasing number of people falling prey to such frauds.There are a lot more cases coming to light, especially in cities like Mumbai and its suburbs, say e-security experts.
In one instance, a bank manager who wishes to remain unidentified says he warned a customer against depositing Rs 15 lakh in an overseas account as “transaction fees” to claim his “reward”. But the customer’s reaction stumped him. “You are jealous of me,” the customer shot back.
Recently, the Oshiwara police in Mumbai swooped down on a scamster as he came to collect the “fees” to complete formalities from a woman residing in a posh Mumbai suburb.
Part of the reason why the number of victims falling for these tricks is increasing is the polished way in which they are being executed. Take the case of the Orange “celebration”, where the service provider is sharing its joy with Indian subscribers despite having no presence in the country since 2005. The messages that enter your mobile phone actually have a customised SMS name,
TM-OTDCUK, that is obtained after paying a fee to the telecom authorities. This customised SMS name can be obtained for as little as Rs 2,000, says an executive heading a digital marketing firm. After obtaining an SMS identity, the scamster can use mobile gateways to spam mass messages where the cost of an SMS is as little as 1 paise to 20 paise per message.
Cos not unduly worried
Perpetrators are increasingly using innovative ways to cheat people. They are using different means like mobile SMS and email to attract their targets. In most of the cases, they do thorough research on the people they intend to defraud ,” says Daniel R Pranjal , chief strategist, Strategy India, a consulting company that deals in this space.
Companies whose names are being currently used as baits in these scams aren’t unduly worried at this point of time. “Consumers are quick to figure out the genuine from the fake,” D Shivakumar, managing director of Nokia India , told ET.
He added that many customers approach the company when they get these mails or messages to find out if there is any truth in the treasure coming their way. LG told this newspaper’s correspondent to forward the mail that had come allegedly on its behalf promising a bag of goodies.
Source: The Economic Times
0 comments:
Post a Comment